Most Popular
-
1
Dongduk Women’s University halts coeducation talks
-
2
Defense ministry denies special treatment for BTS’ V amid phone use allegations
-
3
Russia sent 'anti-air' missiles to Pyongyang, Yoon's aide says
-
4
OpenAI in talks with Samsung to power AI features, report says
-
5
Two jailed for forcing disabled teens into prostitution
-
6
Trump picks ex-N. Korea policy official as his principal deputy national security adviser
-
7
South Korean military plans to launch new division for future warfare
-
8
Gold bars and cash bundles; authorities confiscate millions from tax dodgers
-
9
Kia EV9 GT marks world debut at LA Motor Show
-
10
Teen smoking, drinking decline, while mental health, dietary habits worsen
-
‘Hunger Games’ again on list of challenged books
NEW YORK (AP) ― The more popular “The Hunger Games’’ trilogy becomes, the more reasons some parents and educators have found to question whether it belongs on library shelves.For the second year in a row, Suzanne Collins’ work was among the most “challenged’’ books, as reported Sunday by the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. The association defines a challenge as “a formal, written complaint filed with a library or school requesting that a book or other material be
April 9, 2012
-
Following poem, Israel bars entry to Guenter Grass
JERUSALEM (AP) ― Israel on Sunday declared Guenter Grass persona non grata, deepening a spat with the Nobel-winning author over a poem that deeply criticized the Jewish state and suggested it was as much a danger as Iran.The dispute with Grass, who only late in life admitted to a Nazi past, has drawn new attention to strains in Germany’s complicated relationship with the Jewish state ― and also focused unwelcome light on Israel’s own secretive nuclear program.In a poem called “What Must Be Said’
April 9, 2012
-
Korea to support exports of children’s books
The Culture Ministry plans to push ahead with a policy to support the export of books for young readers to build momentum for a Korean wave in publishing, its minister said Friday.In a meeting with local publishers of children’s books, Minister Choe Kwang-shik asked the publishers to play a role as the main driver of hallyu in the publishing field and promised the government would seek positive ways to support the export of children’s books.According to the ministry, children’s books have the mo
April 8, 2012
-
Blacks among Nazis
Half-Blood BluesBy Esi Edugyan (Picador) “Half-Blood Blues” takes its title from a jazz disc that doesn’t exist, but you wish you could hear anyway. It was, according to Canadian novelist Esi Edugyan’s version of 20th century European history, secretly recorded in Paris just before the Nazis triumphantly roared through the French capital in June 1940. Two black Baltimore expatriates, Charles “Chip” Jones and Sid Griffiths, played drums and bass, respectively. On lead trumpet was a gifted 20-year
April 6, 2012
-
When kids kill: 3 novels explore a parent’s worst nightmare
There is a hierarchy of personal catastrophe, an informal but definitive ranking of all the terrible things that can happen, moving through categories that might be labeled “Worst Thing” to “Next-Worst Thing” to “Next-to-Next Worst Thing” and on down the line.At the upper end of that list, most people would probably agree, is losing a child. The world’s normal order ― parents predeceasing children ― is upended.But what happens if the child is indeed lost, but not gone? When the child, that is, t
April 6, 2012
-
Scholars’ foray to discover ‘non-killing’ culture in Korea
Nonkilling Korea: Six Culture ExplorationEdited by Glenn D. Paige and Ahn Chung-siSeoul National University PressTo those used to studying the turbulent modern Korean history, which consists of war, division and an ongoing ideological dispute, the term “non-killing Korea” may not ring a bell at first.But the latest book published by the Seoul National University, “Nonkilling Korea: Six Culture Exploration” is what the unfamiliar term is all about: It seeks to discover “nonkilling” or non-violent
April 6, 2012
-
From happiness to unimaginable despair
Burn Down the GroundBy Kambri Crews (Villard)Kambri Crews’ debut memoir, “Burn Down the Ground,” places her firmly in the company of family-dysfunction specialists such as Augusten Burroughs, Jeannette Walls and, especially, Mary Karr, whose 1995 best-seller “The Liars’ Club” set the bar for tales of dirt-poor Southeast Texas upbringings.The biting humor of “Burn Down the Ground,” along with the author’s smooth, natural storytelling, reflect her adult years ― she’s been an actress, owns her own
April 6, 2012
-
Exploring the luxury of living
Carry the OneBy Carol Anshaw (Simon & Schuster)A car, carrying revelers from a Wisconsin wedding reception who are stoned, drunk, sleepy and distracted by lust, strikes a 10-year-old girl on a country road and kills her. Carol Anshaw’s masterful novel, “Carry the One,” recounts both the horror of the accident and the way it reverberates in a cluster of lives, particularly sisters Carmen (the bride) and Alice and their brother Nick (both in the death car).Alice goes on to success as a painter, gr
March 30, 2012
-
Adventures of a plucky girl
The Stranger Within Sarah SteinBy Thane Rosenbaum (Texas Tech University Press)Young adult novelists are increasingly tackling darker subjects: kidnappings, drugs, rape. But few have delved into so many dark subjects as novelist Thane Rosenbaum, who ventures into YA territory with his latest, “The Stranger Within Sarah Stein,” a novel revolving around divorce, Sept. 11, homelessness and the Holocaust.What might be most odd about this combination of subjects is that the book isn’t glum at all. To
March 30, 2012
-
‘The False Prince’: A medieval con man seeks impostor for missing royal
Most children want to be recognized as someone special. In “The False Prince,” Jennifer A. Nielsen takes that desire to an extreme with a romp of a medieval-themed, middle-grade novel. This kickoff to her new “Ascendance Trilogy” is a swashbuckling origin story about orphans forced to compete with one another for a chance to take the crown.The book opens with a boy running through the streets being chased by a cleaver-wielding butcher hoping to retrieve a stolen roast. The thief is Sage, a misch
March 30, 2012
-
Chicago physicist takes people back to vanished life of postwar Europe
“Lately I have been overcome by an urge to put my affairs in order,” Peter Freund read, and within moments another world began to materialize in Sandmeyer’s Bookstore.It was postwar Europe, a place of deception and danger for a Romanian Jewish couple masquerading as Catholics in the German town of Dachau.In this and in Freund’s other stories, people try to glue together the shards of shattered worlds and lives. They fight for lost fortunes, outwit Swiss bankers, encounter spies and betrayers, ar
March 30, 2012
-
At 98, once-illiterate US lobsterman is an author
James Arruda Henry had plenty to be proud of as a lobster boat captain who managed to build his own house and raise a family. But he kept a secret into his 90s, one that forced him to bluff his way through life by day and brought tears at night.Henry was illiterate. He couldn't even read restaurant
March 30, 2012
-
Adrienne Rich, feminist poet and essayist, dies
SANTA CRUZ, California (AP) ― Poet Adrienne Rich, whose socially conscious verse influenced a generation of feminist, gay rights and anti-war activists, has died. She was 82.Rich died Tuesday at home from complications from rheumatoid arthritis, said her son, Pablo Conrad. She had lived in Santa Cruz since the 1980s.Through her writing, Rich explored topics such as women’s rights, racism, sexuality, economic justice and love between women.Rich published more than a dozen volumes of poetry and fi
March 29, 2012
-
Lebanese author wins prize for Arabic fiction
ABU DHABI (AP) ― Organizers say a Lebanese author has won the International Prize for Arabic Fiction for his novel depicting life of a Christian egg seller after war, in exile and during imprisonment.The prize is a prestigious Arabic literary award, affiliated with the Booker Prize Foundation in LondonRabee Jaber’s “The Druse of Belgrade’’ is set in Beirut in the 1860s. The protagonist, Hanna Yacoub, has assumed a false identity of a Druse fighter after civil war and is sent into exile. The book
March 28, 2012
-
Harry Potter novels available as eBooks
British author J.K. Rowling's seven Harry Potter books are for the first time available for all types of electronic readers.The eBook versions of the blockbuster fantasy novels can be purchased exclusively at Rowling's Pottermore.com Web site as of Tuesday.More than 450 million hard copies of the se
March 28, 2012
-
Leading Italian novelist Antonio Tabucchi dies
ROME (AFP) ― Antonio Tabucchi, one of Italy’s leading contemporary writers and a ferocious critic of billionaire former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, died in Lisbon on Sunday at the age of 68.Tabucchi died of cancer in the country that had become his second home, according to Italy’s left-leaning newspaper La Repubblica, which worked closely with the author.His funeral will take place on Thursday in the Portuguese capital. “A friend, a fellow traveller, a man who lived with passion and rage,
March 26, 2012
-
Hollywood trade magazine Variety up for sale
LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Variety, a trade magazine that has covered Hollywood for more than 100 years, is up for sale.Its owner, Reed Business Information, announced the decision Friday in a story on Variety’s website.Reed Chief Executive Mark Kelsey says it makes sense to sell the business just as Reed has sold its other U.S. print magazines. He said Reed is increasingly focused on data services.Variety has encountered stiff competition in covering the business of Hollywood from websites such as Dead
March 25, 2012
-
Taking a bite out of reality TV
Chomp: A NovelBy Carl Hiaasen, Alfred A. (Knopf)South Florida is known for many things: Alligators, orange groves and the writer who spins the area’s most sensational attributes into even more sensational story lines, Carl Hiaasen. In his many best-sellers for adults and kids, Hiaasen has demonstrated a unique gift for wrapping real environmental issues into apocryphal, bust-a-gut books that parody pop culture ― a talent he furthers in his most recent middle-school novel, “Chomp.”In a crossover
March 23, 2012
-
From quiet domesticity to sheer terror
Stay CloseBy Harlan Coben (Dutton) A hallmark of Harlan Coben’s best-sellers has been his precise look at ordinary people caught up in extraordinary situations, forced to deal with violence and the seamy side of life. These “family thrillers” are hauntingly realistic, showing how characters who could be our neighbors ― or ourselves ― discover an inner resolve.Coben’s 22nd novel spins a new approach to his family thrillers. In the excellent “Stay Close,” Coben shows us three people who know too w
March 23, 2012
-
Magazine dedicates an issue to late POSCO founder
The Quarterly Asia: Park Tae-joon: A Memorial Issue(ASIA Publishers) ASIA, a bilingual quarterly which mainly features works of Asian literature, has dedicated its latest issue to the late POSCO founder Park Tae-joon. Park, who died of complications of lung disease last year, is considered one of the pioneers behind Korea’s post-war economic growth. The former general who participated in the Korean War (1950-1953) founded POSCO in 1968, which was then called Pohang Iron and Steel Company, and tu
March 23, 2012
